WASHINGTON – Auto dealers and business leaders have appealed a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to allow California to establish the nation's first greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks.

The National Automobile Dealers Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce asked a U.S. appeals court Thursday to review the EPA's decision. The EPA in July granted California's request for a waiver allowing it to push tougher air pollution rules.

The legal move could allow the groups to ask a judge to block the order.

The EPA's decision cleared the way for California to implement a 2002 state pollution law requiring new cars to increase their fuel economy 40 percent by 2016. The auto industry and the Bush administration had opposed the rules.